Roar Rookie
Joined March 2017
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You might be thinking – how will a team who lost to Adelaide by 88 points and West Coast by 103 points last season…
21.74 - that is Mitch Marsh’s batting average after 21 Test matches for Australia. Dropped in favour of Nic Maddison after the abysmal defeat…
Last year was a good year for AFL coaches, with Justin Leppitsch being the only casualty. In a world where results mean everything, there…
It’s tough for young players to develop when you are getting smashed every week. Also, no one can really nail every pick. If you think back to how bad they were they have done a decent job of fixing the culture around the club and becoming competitive again.
Have Hawthorn booby-trapped their own regeneration?
I think they wanted the fast rebuild that Geelong had after getting Dangerfield. The difference is that Geelong phased out their veterans slowly. Hawthorn got rid of two of their key midfielders this year and will probably lose Burgoyne, Hodge, and Gibson this season as well. Plus Geelong had a better crop of young players than this Hawthorn team. They were giving games to Motlop, Hawkins, Duncan, Guthrie etc while the champions were still there, so they didn’t see the huge drop off that Hawthorn is going through and remained competitive while rebuilding. Hawthorn took the risk of being able to compete while rebuilding like Geelong and Sydney have done but they messed it up with bad trading.
Have Hawthorn booby-trapped their own regeneration?
You are forgetting a lot of forwards from the 2000s! Jonathan Brown, Matthew Richardson, Brendan Fevola, and Warren Tredrea will all be remembered. As will guys between the two decades like Matthew Pavlich and Nick Riewoldt. Personally, I think that the guys I mentioned are at least equal to the current generation as a whole, if not better. Your point about midfielders being more remembered now than key forwards is true though. Hird, Buckley Voss, Akermanis etc are definitely rated more highly than the forwards from that era. Other than Buddy that will probably continue for this decade. In 20 years people are going to think of Gary Ablett, Dangerfield, Mitchell, Hodge, and Fyfe more than JJK, Walker, and Lynch.
Are we in another era of great key forwards?
It was definitely sarcasm. Getting rid of John Butcher might actually help Port move up the ladder a bit.
The five AFL coaches under the pump in 2017
They need to change the gameplan a bit though. What they are currently doing is way too defensive. Bolton needs to give the young guys the reign to take the game on a bit more. They need to move the ball faster and take risks. The current gameplan won’t get them playing finals, they won’t be able to score enough. They really need to sort that out now while they are rebuilding rather than later.
Carlton to stick on rebuild course: Bolton